Sola Scriptura

 

Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:12-17 ESV).

 

The 19th-century English preacher Charles Spurgeon once said that the Reformation began when Martin Luther found a discarded Bible in his monastery. As he began to read it, God’s Word grew like a seed in his heart, and the result was a personal and world-transforming movement. However, this gentle image of a seed is not the way the power of God’s Word is described in Hebrews 4:12, one of the key verses in the foundational idea of sola Scriptura, or “Scripture alone.” Here God’s Word is described as a sharp, powerful, and precise blade, dividing truth from the rebellious lies we harbor in our hearts.

 

Only Scripture has this power. It is not found in the traditions of any church or government, nor the insights of any leader. As Luther said, “A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it.” Indeed, in speaking about the Reformation that he initiated, Luther said, “I did nothing. The Word did everything.”

 

Today we seem to be so easily convinced that our world and the chaos we are experiencing can be resolved by more (or less) laws, by conservative (or less conservative) leaders. A law is nothing without the foundation of Scripture and the grace of God to understand and apply it in our personal lives. A leader without the foundation of Scripture and the grace of God working in their lives to apply it equally to all in mercy and compassion is nothing. Too many today claim to speak the truth, but behave a lie. Sometimes it is for personal gain, while at other times they simply are tragically misled and misinformed. God’s Word, the Bible, has a precision and power you will find nowhere else. It must be active in our hearts and minds. We must read it with an open heart letting it form the words that come from our mouth. We must let it shape the actions we take. It is only by knowing and living in and through God’s Word can we see our world change. It is not too late for revival.